Unions

The First U.S. Unions

In the United States, the history of unions began in the early 19th century when workers who shared occupations in the same cities banded together to create “strikes,” in which workers would collectively refuse to work until certain conditions had been met by employers. In 1927, several of these trade unions located in Philadelphia joined together in an agreement to support one another in negotiations, calling themselves the Mechanics Union Trade Association. Although most occupations were reserved for male workers, one example of a trade union composed of women workers during this early period was the Collar Laundry Union, established in New York City in 1863.

The first labor organization to transcend regional boundaries was the National Labor Union (NLU) in 1866, the result of a federation of many trade associations. The founder of the Collar Laundry Union, Kate Mullaney, became the first assistant secretary in the NLU, and the organization included in their agenda the rights of working women. The NLU dissolved in 1873, but the Knights of Labor (KOL) soon emerged as an important national union that offered membership to skilled trade union members as well as general laborers. The Knights of Labor opened membership to women workers in 1883, and these members formally established the Woman's Work Department in 1885 to give specific attention to this issue of concern to the union.

In 1881, a faction of KOL members became dissatisfied with organizational policy and formed the [Page 1487]American Federation of Labor (AFL), led by Samuel Gompers. The AFL was structured as a loosely affiliated group of individual trade unions that each retained the authority to negotiate with workers and employers in their own field. The AFL functioned to obtain goals that were basic for all of these organizations, including raising wages and shorter work hours. AFL membership and leadership opportunities were open to women, and the rights of working women were a concern of the organization. In 1892, the AFL appointed Mary Kenny O'Sullivan as its first female general organizer; Kenny O'Sullivan was a woman from the Irish working class who labored in a bindery before organizing the Chicago Women's Bindery Workers Union.

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